Canberra star guard Kia Nurse has become the first import to win the WNBL's Most Valuable Player award. The Canadian has seen off competition from Opals trio Cayla George, Katie-Rae Ebzery and Steph Talbot, as well as import Brianna Turner, to claim the Suzy Batkovic medal. Nurse polled 94 votes, six more than Adelaide Lightning's Turner in second place. The maximum votes a player can receive in a game is nine, which Nurse earned on five occasions across the season. A rising WNBA star with the New York Liberty, last year was Nurse's second consecutive season with the Capitals in the WNBL. The 23-year-old scored double figures in every game for the Capitals and produced a WNBL career-best 33 points against the Southside Flyers in Round 14. Nurse is the league's leading scorer this season with an average of 21.3 points per game, plus 4.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists. Earlier this week she helped Canada confirm their place at the Tokyo Olympics with wins over Japan (70-68), Sweden (80-50) and Belgium (61-56). "This is a big testament to my Capitals teammates and coach Paul Gorris," says Nurse. "To be the first import to win the WNBL MVP shows the level of talent here in Australia and it was a big reason why I felt it was a great league for me to come to." Nurse will be presented with the medal before Sunday's opening game of the semi-final series between the Capitals and Boomers at AIS Arena. Previous winners of the award include seven-time winner Suzy Batkovic, Lauren Jackson, Liz Cambage, Rachael Sporn and Caps teammate Kelsey Griffin. Australian Associated Press